This article was written by Daphne Tomlinson of Tomlinson Business Research. Utilities are continuing to strengthen their decentralized energy capabilities as part of their ambition to expand their business models beyond the meter and become complete solution providers for energy management. In a previous article on Memoori titled “Utilities Invest in Energy Software & Services for Commercial Buildings”, we estimated that one can expect to see further partnerships and alliances in 2016 as utilities seek to transform their businesses. This was certainly the case in the smart building to smart grid interface software sector, where we observed several interesting trends: Energy Service Companies (ESCOs) are also investing in solutions for their large energy users in the commercial and industrial sector. In the last two years, utilities have become important strategic investors in startups addressing smart grid & decentralized energy solutions through venture capital funding, enabling them to stay ahead of innovative technologies and new business […]